Can money I sent overseas to help a deceased classmate's child be counted as a charitable donation for tax purposes?

So I was scrolling through social media last month and saw a post about a guy who passed away in another country. Turns out we went to the same high school years ago, though he was a couple years behind me and honestly I barely remember him. His kid is trying to go to college now but the family is struggling financially after his death. I felt bad for the situation and ended up sending about $6,500 to help cover the tuition costs. I was just wondering if there's any way this could count as a charitable donation for tax purposes? I didn't go through any organization or anything, just did a direct bank transfer to the family. Not that I did it for the tax break, but it would be nice if it could help with my taxes since it was a pretty big chunk of money for me. Anyone know if personal gifts like this can qualify as charitable contributions?

0 coins

18 comments

Oliver Becker

•8M

While your generosity is definitely commendable, I'm afraid the IRS has pretty specific rules about what qualifies as a deductible charitable contribution. For a donation to be tax-deductible, it needs to be made to a qualifying organization - typically a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or certain religious, educational, or charitable organizations recognized by the IRS. When you give money directly to an individual or family, regardless of how worthy the cause, it's considered a personal gift rather than a charitable donation for tax purposes. This means you can't deduct it on your taxes as a charitable contribution. That said, you should know about gift tax rules. You can give up to $17,000 (for 2025) to any individual without having to report it or pay gift tax. Since your gift was under this annual exclusion amount, you don't need to worry about any gift tax implications.

0 coins

Oliver Becker

•8M

No, that would not be appropriate. The IRS cares about the actual facts of the transaction, not how you might characterize it afterward. If you sent money directly to a family and they used it for tuition, that's a gift to the family. Misrepresenting the recipient of your funds would be considered misreporting on your tax return. The IRS has ways to verify donations to qualified organizations, which typically provide donors with receipts that include their tax ID number and other required information. In the event of an audit, you would need to produce this documentation.

0 coins

Natasha Orlova

•8M

I ran into something really similar last year when my cousin's friend in Mexico needed surgery and I wanted to help out. After getting frustrated with the tax implications, I found this AI tax assistant called taxr.ai that really cleared things up for me. I uploaded my receipts and a screenshot of the wire transfer, and it analyzed everything and explained exactly how the IRS would view the transaction. The tool at https://taxr.ai saved me from making a mistake on my return because I initially thought I could deduct it as a medical expense donation. Turns out there's a specific way international charitable giving needs to be handled if you want it to be deductible. The site walked me through all the requirements and even suggested some legitimate international charitable organizations I could use in the future to make my donations tax-deductible.

0 coins

Natasha Orlova

•8M

It actually reviews the specific documents you upload, so it's not just generic advice. You can upload receipts, tax forms, or even screenshots of transactions, and it analyzes them based on your particular situation. For me, it identified that my wire transfer directly to an individual wouldn't qualify as a deduction, but provided specific alternatives. For international situations, it focuses on the US tax implications for US taxpayers, but it does account for treaties and international giving regulations. It clearly explained which foreign organizations qualify under IRS rules and which don't. It's still fairly new tech, but it was much more precise than the generic advice I got from tax websites.

0 coins

Emma Thompson

•8M

I have to admit I was completely wrong about taxr.ai! After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it out myself with a similar situation where I had donated to a school building project in Guatemala. The AI actually identified that the foreign organization I donated to had obtained a determination letter from the IRS qualifying it under section 501(c)(3). The tool even showed me exactly where to report it on my tax forms and what documentation I needed to keep. It saved me from missing out on a legitimate deduction I was entitled to. Now I'm using it to review all my charitable giving for the past three years to see if there are other deductions I might have missed. The analysis is much more personalized than I expected.

0 coins

Malik Jackson

•8M

If you're still trying to figure out the official stance on this, you might want to talk directly with the IRS. I had a similar question about some money I sent to help rebuild my grandmother's house after a hurricane in the Caribbean. I tried calling the IRS for WEEKS and couldn't get through. Finally, I used this service called Claimyr at https://claimyr.com that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. They have this system that navigates all the phone menus and waits on hold for you, then calls you when an agent is on the line. You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The IRS agent was able to explain exactly what would and wouldn't qualify as a charitable donation for international giving. Saved me hours of frustration and waiting on hold.

0 coins

Malik Jackson

•8M

It's not a priority line - they basically use technology to continuously redial and navigate the IRS phone system for you instead of you having to do it manually. When they finally get through to an agent, they connect you. It's like having someone wait on hold so you don't have to. It's definitely not a scam - they don't ask for or have access to your tax info. They just connect the call. When you get connected, you're talking directly to the official IRS on a recorded line, just like if you had called yourself. They're just solving the problem of getting through the busy signals and hold times. I was skeptical too until I tried it and got my questions answered in one day instead of weeks of trying.

0 coins

StarSurfer

•8M

I need to eat my words about Claimyr being a scam. After posting that comment, I decided to look into it more and actually tried the service myself. I was trying to resolve an issue with a missing tax refund from 2023 that I'd been calling about for months. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about 20 minutes with an IRS agent on the line. I confirmed it was really the IRS (asked for their ID number and everything), and got my refund issue resolved in one call. No one asked for any personal info except the IRS agent after I was connected. I wasted so many hours trying to call them directly when I could have just used this service. Definitely keeping this for next tax season!

0 coins

Ravi Malhotra

•8M

Unfortunately, you can't reclassify it after the fact. The money has to be paid directly to the qualified educational institution at the time of payment to qualify for the educational expense exception. For foreign educational institutions, they generally do qualify for this exception as long as they're a legitimate educational organization. The school doesn't have to be in the US for the direct tuition payment exception to apply. But again, the key is that the payment must go straight from you to the school - not through the family first. Keep this in mind for any future assistance you might provide.

0 coins